The opening phrase of the choral Kyrie carried a dark charge immediately answered by translucent instrumental timbres; when soprano Katherine Watson and countertenor Iestyn Davies launched into the ‘Christe eleison’, the dark/light opposition continued through the contrast in their voices. Paired with tenor Gwilym Bowen, Watson’s voice then seemed to assume a different hue; bass Neal Davies made the most of the one aria which allowed his voice to fly.

No praise too high for the youthful choir, whose sound had a wonderful freshness and attack, or for the orchestra’s period-instrument virtuosity; Layton’s masterly pacing allowed each element in the work to flower in its own way, with the ‘Osanna’ rocking crazily, the ‘Incarnatus est’ exuding marmoreal stillness, the angular counterpoint of the ‘Confiteor’ fairly scudding along, and the ‘Sanctus’ thrusting up like a great tree out of the earth.